A Short Overview of SMART Goals (Infographics)

Have you come across references to something called SMART goals when doing research on digital marketing strategies and tips? If so, you’ve probably been told that you should do what you can to adhere to SMART principles in your approach.

But what are SMART goals?

SMART is an acronym that can be used to guide your goal setting and is generally attributed to Peter Drucker’s Management by Objectives concept.

In 1981, George T. Doran, a consultant and former director of corporate planning for Washington Water Power Company, published a paper called, “There’s a SMART Way to Write Management’s Goals and Objectives.” In this paper, he first spoke about SMART goals as a tool you can use to create criteria to help improve the chances of succeeding in accomplishing a goal.

As stated below in the following infographic, SMART stands for:

S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Time-bound

SEMRush put together a short overview of SMART goals, as well as what each element means.